#gorbag fantasy high

[disastergenius]

once again, i am thankful for the way that Gorgug's adoption is portrayed!

he's looking for his biological dad (not his mom though?) and it's played for laughs but not in a bad way

The Thistlesprings are his parents! They're his parents and it's never assumed or implied that they are less valuable to him because he's not biologically related to him

his parents love him so much! they don't mind all the things he has that are different (like breaking his bed), they listen and they help

if i remember correctly, there's genuinely only one (1) instance of Gorgug/Zac saying "his real dad" to reference his bio dad, which is surprising to me just because of the way that's usually used

in the nightmare forest truth I was so worried for many things. I love that truth was not about him being adopted, it would have been really easy for Brennan/Zac to play off that as a fear, either with rejection or abandonment. That the Thistlespring relatives were going to be mad about him being a half-orc and that was why they didn't want him, but no, they made it about his rage instead.

no one ever really questions that Gorgug's parents are gnomes? like he just shows up with them and is like, yeah these are my parents. or he just mentions it and everyone's chill about it.

i know that the focus of Sophomore Year is not here, but Gorgug's bio parents don't really get mentioned. Like yes, he probably has some sort of relationship with them off-screen, but I kind of like that it wasn't elaborated on or really talked about? I feel like a lot of media with both families in the picture make a point to show that the relation between them and the child is equal and/or equitable, or different parties are being punished for not allowing that relationship. But I think Gorgug not talking about it a lot was kind of nice since it showed an adopted child is not obligated to have a relationship once they find the bio parent and it's not demonized. [and if they choose to do more with that in Junior Year, I will be interested to see it! It has a lot of potential to be good and a relationship between them would be good for Gorgug]

anyways, it's refreshing to see an adopted character where it's not a big deal for them

[do i watch the "are you my dad" video regularly? yes]

[mysteriouslypeculiar]

hey gang so did anyone look at the desks during the close-up? two of them have hearts with initials drawn on them.

one of them is "R + G" and another is "R + B" (i think)

so the R + G could be Roz and Gorbag (gorgug's parents; his dad told him that he and his high school girlfriend had him when they were still in school) OR it could be Ragh and Gorgug (ragh is implied* to have a crush on gorgug, so he could've doodled it)

the R + B is a bit trickier. I'm thinking it's Riz + Baron, as an inside joke. but also i can't quite make out if it's a B or not with 100% certainty.

[moonlightperseus]

…….were roz and gorbag in the list of “friends” that wilma and digby….hung out with during the summer

[kindacutebutaloser]

I am a little disappointed that Gorgug didn’t get to save his own parents. He had so many parents on the board and didn’t really get to fight alongside them as much as I was anticipating.

[to-be-a-dreamer]

I will never know peace until the Bad Kids are all legally siblings in some way via Jawbone adoption and/or their parents’ insane polycule. Idk how Gorgug gets involved there but his parents are canonically swingers so he can be a step sibling in spirit if not by law.

[dabblingreturns]

I like romantic drama as a background event but messy highschool dating bores me.

So I've got to say....I love how it's the parents in fantasy high that are in a messy polycule, and trying to raise 5 kids between them*....

Except for gorgugs parents who together all form thier own hilarious polycule....

But yeah, I love the parent drama.

*The Abernant and Applebee's are excluded from these polycules because everyone has taste. And Sandra and Jawbone were just like "who would through away such perfectly good kids, well finders keepers"

[haltraveler]

I really do hope we get to see more of Gorbag and Roz this season. It felt weird how Gorgug had that big reunion and they joined the Cig Figs but then were barely mentioned in Sophomore Year.

[avantgardechild]

Woah hey,

So I decided to start rewatching fantasy high from freshman year to junior year since the season finished. In Gorgug’s introDUCTION, he talks about breaking his bed and having dreams where he’s angry all the time and in the context of the roleplay, yeah Gorgug is a pubescent barbarian who is struggling with wanting to connect with his biological parents.

But in the context of junior year there’s so much that could be said about this intro scene. Is it typical for all barbarians to go through in this period of their lives or was this the inception of the rage stars? Did Brennan take this bit and run with it for the whole rage god idea, because rage plays such a huge role in so much of early fantasy high if you think about it. So much of adolescence is rage inducing, you’re older than a kid so a lot of things are expected of you but you’re still not an adult, and couple that with the fact that hey remember, the Bad Kids are FOURTEEN in freshman year. They literally work to save the world multiple times.

Anyway, I’m excited for more of this to be revealed/bits to analyze now. Brennan did say that a lot of this was 5 years in the making. I just want to see when he started to build things up and find connections in his own story because we know that it was Emily/Fig’s insistence that Porter was evil that inspired Brennan and not him already being evil. And that’s the wonderful thing about collaborative story telling and role playing, there is some structure required for it to feel like a satisfying story but the players have as much say in this structure as the DM does.

God I love the fantasy high universe.

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 8🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 8 "Fracas at the Frostyfaire Folk Festival"

Timestamp: 25:30

Video Length: 4min. & 32sec.

Gorgug and his parents talk about the Frostyfaire Folk Festival (Pt. 1 | ‣Pt. 2)

Brennan: "You start getting texts from friends that there's stuff happening over at Mordred."

Gorgug: "Adaine threw up?" 😂

Brennan: "What the hell? As you're heading out, by the way, Wilma says,"

Wilma: "Gorgug, would you mind? There's some stuff under the tarps that we'd love to move into the basement."

Brennan: "You see Digby goes,"

Digby: "Wilma, we'll move that stuff. That's okay."

Brennan: "You see he says,"

Digby: "We just, you know, just to let you know, bud, you know, you were gone for a couple months, and we had some friends over while you were gone."

Emily: *whispers* "Swingers." 😭✋

Ally: *laughs* 😂💀

Digby: "For a while, over the summer. And we were working on some projects, and we had some gear."

Emily: *whispers* "Swingers." 😭💀

Digby: "And we had some gear around the tree."

Siobhan: "Sex swing."

Digby: "And so- But we're gonna have a lot of guests and strangers and people around, so we're just gonna throw all that in the cellar. I just want you to know that you're okay to invite frie- we're not gonna embarrass you, we're not gonna, you know, put you in a weird... But just, there's some gizmos and gadgeroos that gotta get put in the ol' basement-eroonie."

Gorgug: "But you guys got that, right?"

Digby: "Yeah, we're gonna take- yeah"

Gorgug: "I don't have to go... I don't have to help with that, right?"

(BRENNAN'S SMILE HERE! 😭✋)

Brennan: "You see Wilma says,"

Wilma: *shakes head* "And I shouldn't have asked. I was thinking- I'm just-"

Gorgug: "Are they here?" 😭✋

Wilma: "I'm just stressed."

Gorgug: "Are those friends gonna be at this festival?"

(THE PAUSE HERE! 😭✋)

Wilma: "There's gonna... I wanna say-"

Gorgug: "What the **** are we doing?" 😭✋

Wilma: "No! No, no!" 😭✋

Brennan: "You see he goes,"

Gorgug: "Sorry, I just-"

Gorbag: "Whoa, whoa!"

Brennan: "And you see Gorbag says,"

Gorbag: "Gorgug, it's not a weird- look-"

Zac: "Gorgug's eyes are darting between my biological parents and-"

Brennan: "Biological parents and your... You see Gorbag goes,"

Gorbag: "Look, all the stuff they're talking about, that's not what the festival is about. Look, the festival celebrates bodies, you know? There's a nudity tent, but that's not sexual. That's just about admiring each other."

Gorgug: "So I'm just, like, having to study a lot lately." 😭😭

(😭✋ Brennan's laughter here!!! 😭✋)

Gorgug: "And I'm not sure that I'm equipped for this conversation right now."

Digby: "Listen, bud, you don't have to go in the nudity tent."

Gorgug: "I know! I know I don't!"

Digby: "Okay, but again, it's non-sexual. It's just about a place to be free-"

Gorgug: "There's just a tent where people are nude."

Digby: *shrugs* 😭✋

Gorgug: "Just sitting in a hot tent together."

Digby: "Well, the music's playing and it's just a place to fe-... You know, we live in a pretty stifling society, in a lot of ways, and there's nothing-"

Gorgug: "And they feel free in a big tent."

Digby: "Yeah, because we wanna be cognizant of people's boundaries."

Gorgug: "Okay."

Digby: "But, you know, clothing... I didn't sign a contract when I was born saying I'd wear clothes forever. There's nothing wrong with a body. What does any one of us have that no one's ever seen before?"

Gorgug: "That's true. I guess I just didn't really think that much about what this festival was."

Digby: "It's great. Music's great." 😭😭

Gorgug: "So, I guess my friends are coming, too."

Brennan: "As they sort of talk about all that, you get ready to head out. Give me a Tinkers' Tools check on your way out."

Zac: *blows on his dice* 😭✋

Lou: "There it is." 😭✋

Ally: "Get the bad ones out." 😭✋

Lou: "Get the bad ones out." 😭✋

Emily: "Oh, that was close to a 20." 😭😭

Zac: "21."

Emily: "This dice has been performing."

Brennan: "I think as you're walking out, thinking about that different approach, you're looking at all the junk tied up under different tarps and stuff in the yard. I think you just come to a moment of looking at some of the machinery and thinking about Henry, your artificer teacher, talking about how he's never seen anyone work at a problem before as hard as you are working and not solve it. And I think you're thinking about the disparity between rage and concentration and just looking at some machinery on your way out, and there's some little glimmer of an edge of inspiration in your mind, almost something you could catch onto, after this first semester of how well everything's been working. And you see circuitry carrying electricity through the tree. And just for a moment, see that current like a pulse, and think about your own pulse as you're raging. There's a moment where you see some kind of synchronicity there, and then it goes away and the day continues."

Zac: "Just writes down a little note to himself and crumples it up with rage, but then straightens it out and puts it in his pocket." 🥺🥺

Brennan: "Hell yeah."

[embraceweird]

I made a map of the Bad Kid Parents polycule

I may have taken some creative liberties

[jellybreakfastsandwiches]

Now that the high of a new episode has come down, I'm just now remembering how Gorgug's 4 parents had decidedly NOT been raising hell against Porter like I'd wanted 😭

[katiefratie]

GORGUGS PARENTS POLY REAL?????? This is definitely sex equipment in the basement

[natjennie]

they had. friends. over.. and there's. equipment. that needs to get moved to the basement... and also there's a nudity tent. nonsexual..... ohh the thistlesprings. I love you so much.

[minotaur-in-my-labyrinth]

"I talk on the crystal with Roz and Gorbag all the time, which is great, but home is where the tree is, and at the end of the day, it doesn't take a Nat 20 to tell ya that Wilma's my mom, and Digby's my dad."

-Gorgug Thistlespring, sweetest heart of the Bad Kids

[deconstructthesoup]

Personal Ranking of the Fantasy High Moms, From Worst to Best:

Arianwen Abernant: -19999/10. She's not as bad as Angwyn, since she's convinced herself she's a good mother, but her "I just want the best for you" shtick isn't any better, and the fact that she's ignorant about how horrible she is doesn't make up for years of neglect. And she also attempted to rope her daughters into raising a being of pure nightmares because she lost her status, so.

Donna Applebees: 0/10. Conservative, racist, judgmental, only loves her kids conditionally... you get the gist. Also, she's absolutely a Karen.

Hallariel Seacaster: 3/10. Yes, I know, she's a MILF, she's got such an iconic vibe, she's a badass with a sword, but none of that excuses years of being emotionally absent from your son's life. She's not a bad person, but she unfortunately doesn't know how to be a mom. Sorry, Hallariel. I wish I could rank you higher.

The Last Phoenix: 5/10. Bird. She's a bird. We don't know enough about her except for the fact that she is the last phoenix, she started out as a "haha Arthur Aguefort is a crazy motherfucker" gag, and she gave us the incredible gift that is Ayda. I cannot rank her fairly, but given that she is Ayda's mom, she goes on the list.

Roz Last-Name-Unknown: 6/10. Same deal with Gorbag---we don't know enough about her for me to properly rank her, but we do know that she was a teen mom, and she's made the choice to reconnect with her son and be in his life. Props for that.

Sandralynn Faeth: 7.5/10. I am ranking her realistically, but let it be known that I love her so much. She is such a beautiful example of a flawed person who consistently tries to be better, and even though she does relapse into old behaviors, she's still growing---and outside of the serial cheating (that is a response to trauma, by the way) and occasional lapses in social skills, she's a pretty damn good mom, all things considered.

Cathilda Ceili: 8/10. She's the parent that Fabian needed, even if he didn't always realize it. She's sweet, she's caring, and if anybody hurts her boy, she will fucking rock your shit. (Also, the reveal of Cathilda being an incredibly fearsome and ruthless pirate outside of Solace was one of my favorites.)

Wilma Thistlespring: 9/10. She's a caring and supportive mom who writes songs, is sex-positive, and loves her son! Again, she does need to recognize when she's embarrassing Gorgug, and she needs to recognize that he's gotta learn how to be angry, but still! We all love her!

Lydia Barkrock: 9.6/10. While she doesn't quite get the full score due to the fact that her son was briefly an ass, it clearly was not her fault, and from what we've seen of her, she is a fantastic mom. She's a badass disabled powerhouse who cooks incredible spreads and cares about her son and his friends a lot. I love her a lot. She's amazing.

Sklonda Gukgak: 10/10. She took that spot in her very first scene, where she poured water in her cereal so Riz could have milk in his, and she's been holding it up ever since. Despite the fact that she's constantly swamped with work, Sklonda is literally one of the best moms you could ever ask for. She deserves the world and it's a constant injustice that she's not getting it.

Bonus: Garthy O'Brien, while having transcended gender and therefore not being able to fit into either of the "mom/dad" rankings, is an 11/10 parent---not just to Ayda, but to everyone younger than them who they've essentially adopted. Words cannot express my adoration for this person.